Iran crowned IFCPF World Cup champion
Iran’s seven-a-side football team defeated Ukraine 3-0 to lift the men’s trophy at the 2024 IFCPF World Cup in Salou, Spain.
Mahdi Bakhshi gave Iran the lead over the defending champion seven minutes into the game, before Hossein Tizbor and Mahdi Shokouhi found the net inside five minutes in the second half (43’ and 48’) to round off an emphatic run for Ali Raadi’s men in the 16th edition of the flagship international event for cerebral palsy football.
Iran began its campaign with a 4-0 victory over Venezuela and then came out victorious over Ireland (3-0) and Germany (4-0) to win Group D and progress into the quarterfinals.
Tizbor and Bakhshi were on scoresheet in each half with Philip Pincince scoring an own goal as Iran beat the United States 3-0 in the last eight.
In the semifinals, Bakhshi and Shokouhi bagged a couple of goals in the first-half stoppage time, before Moslem Mehrabian and Amirhossein Qorbani doubled the scoreline in the second period to steer Iran to a 4-0 triumph against Brazil for a place in the final showdown.